More Articles

Despite a delay in his court proceedings, attorneys for Matthew Cordle say he remains committed
to his YouTube promise to plead guilty to killing a man in a drunken-driving crash.

Cordle, 22, of 460 Retreat Lane in Powell, was indicted on Monday on charges of aggravated
vehicular homicide and driving while intoxicated, days after he confessed in an online video to
drinking heavily and driving the wrong way on I-670, leading to a fatal crash Downtown.

He appeared yesterday afternoon before Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Julie Lynch, but she
postponed Cordle’s arraignment, saying it would be inappropriate to proceed unless he immediately
pleaded guilty.

Lynch said she was told that Cordle would plead guilty. However, his attorneys had said
yesterday that he would plead not guilty before Lynch, so the case could be randomly assigned to a
trial judge before whom he would quickly plead guilty.

Cordle’s failure to enter a plea “calls into question the validity of being so forthcoming in
his YouTube video” about his intent to plead guilty, the judge said after the brief hearing.

She said talks revealed that prosecutors wanted a maximum prison sentence of 8 1/2 years, while
Cordle’s attorneys wanted about four years. Lynch said his attorneys balked when she would not
commit to a sentence. They declined to comment about any discussions.

Lynch, who said she was prepared to impose less than a maximum sentence if Cordle was truly
remorseful, instead sent the case to the regular arraignment docket today so Cordle could enter a
not-guilty plea.

Cordle’s attorneys and Prosecutor Ron O’Brien rejected suggestions that judge shopping was
involved, saying his case will be randomly assigned to one of the 17 Common Pleas judges, including
possibly Lynch.

After his arraignment today, Cordle’s attorneys — George Breitmayer III and Martin Midian — hope
he will be released from jail on bond.

Cordle admitted in his video that he was drunk on June 22 when he drove the wrong way on I-670
and killed 61-year-old Vincent Canzani, a photographer and father of two from Gahanna. Police knew
that Cordle, who was injured in the crash, was the driver but were waiting on toxicology results
before taking the case to a grand jury. His blood-alcohol content was 0.19 percent, more than twice
the level at which a driver is presumed impaired in Ohio.

His YouTube video confession and plea to others not to drink and drive went viral, capturing
international attention.